'Spoiled' vote still comes up in the wash

Catherine Connolly is set to become Ireland’s tenth president.

In a rather bubbly twist during the Cavan-Monaghan vote count, one ballot ended up doing double duty- acting as a makeshift parcel of washing powder.

Dropped into box 43, despite the unexpected stain on procedure, the vote itself still remained valid, as the voter had clearly marked a choice for a candidate.

Heather Humphreys currently leads tallies here in Cavan and Monaghan with a sparkling 58.28%, followed by Catherine Connolly at 38.60%, and Jim Gavin trailing on 3.11%.

Meanwhile, the number of spoiled votes is foaming over, with 169 of 259 boxes opened so far, pushing the spoiled vote percentage to 11.59%.

Even amid these sudsy irregularities, Catherine Connolly is set to become Ireland’s tenth president this evening.

Her victory marks a historic moment for the Galway West TD and injects fresh momentum into the centre-left, with Sinn Féin, Labour, and the Social Democrats looking to lather up support as they gear up for the next general election.